Sharp County record., 1887-11-17
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Pointed Discourse in Defense OF
Young Men,
The Value of a Good Home and the h"i-
yark of Power Found in NoDle
tdeal-Religious Principle the
Test of Character.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage TOOK lor lne
theme of a recent discourse at the BROOK
lvn Tabernacle "Defense OF Young
Men," his text being
= And the Lord opened the eyes Of the young
Inan.-u Kings, vi, Ii.
He said: One morning in Dothan
Young theological student was scared ny
! finding himself and Elisha, the prophet
upon whom he waited, surrounded by
whole army of enemies. But veneraole
| Elisha was not scared at all, because he
snw the mountains full of defense for him,
IN chariots made out of fire, wheels OF
Ere. dashboard of fire, and cushion of fire,
drawn by horses with nostrils OF 1lre' anu
name of fire, and launches OF hre, anu
boofs of fire-a supernatural appearance
that could not be seen with the natural
eve. So the old minister prayed that the
voung minister might see them also, and
fae PRAYER was answered, and the Lord
sbpened the eyes of the young man, and ne
-also saw the fiery procession, look
somewhat, suppose, like the AdronuacAS
or the Aleghanies in their autumnal re-
sp'endence.
most tremendous realities have tnelr
ewes half shut or entirely closed May
God grant that my sermon may open "iue
your eyes toyour safety, your opportunity
and your destiny.
A mighty defense for young man IS
GOOD home. Some of my hearers look bacK
with tender satisfaction to their early
home. 1t may have been rude and rustic,
T hidden among the hills, and archltect or
npholsterer never planned or adorned IT,.
But all the fresco on princely walls never
looked so enticing to you as those rough
4 bewn rafters. You can think of no PARK
or arbor of trees planted on fashionable
4 country seat so attractive as the plain
brook that run in front of the old farm'
house and sang under the weeping VIII
1 lows. No barred gateway adorned with
statue of bronze, and swung open by OBJ
seouious porter in full dress, has half the
glory of the swing gate.
Many of you have second dwelling
place, your adopted home, that also IS Sa-
cred forever. There you built the first
family altar. There your children were
I born. All those trees you planted. That
room is solemn, because once in it, over
the hot pillow, tapped the wings OF death.
Under that roof you expect when your
work is done to lie down and die. You
trv with many words to tell the excel lency
of the place, but you fail There is only
1 one word in the language that can de-
scribe your meaning. 1t is home.
Now, I declare it, that young man is
comparatively safe who goes out into the
world with a charm like this upon him.
The memory of parental solicitude, plan
ming and PRAYING, will be to him shield
and shelter. Inever knew man faith
full both to his early and adopted home,
who at the same time was given over to
anv gross form of dissipation or wicked
ness. He who seeks his enjoyment chiefly
from outside association, rather than from
the more quiet and unpresuming
pleasures Of which I have spoken,
may bo suspected to -ha ---- on
the broad road to ruin. Abb
solom despised his fathers house, and
you know his history of sin and his death
of shame. If you seem unnecessarily iso-
lated from your kindred and former asso-
ciates, is there not some room that you can
call your own? Into it gather books, pa.
pers, and pictures, and harp. Have a
portrait over the mantel. Make ungodly
mirth stand back from the threshold.
Consecrate some spot with the knee of
payer. By the memory of other days, a
fathers counsel, and mothers love, and
sisters confidence, call it home.
My young friends, there is no way to
genuine success except through toll, either
of the head or hand. At the battle of
Crecy, in 1916, the Prince of Wales, find
ing himself heavily pressed by the enemy,
sent word to his father for help. The
father, watching the battle from wind
mill, and, seeing that his son was not
wounded and could gain the day if he
would, sent word "No, will not come.
Let the boy win his spurs, for, if God will,
desire that the day be his, with all its
honors" Young man, fight your own
battle all through, and you shall have the
victory Oh, it is battle worth fighting
Two monarchs of old fought duel,
Charles V. and Francis, and the stakes
were kingdoms, Milan and Burgundy.
You fight with sin, and the stake is
Heaven or hell
Do not get the fatal idea that you are
genius, and that therefore tnere is no
need of close application. 1t is here
where multitudes fail. The great curse of
this age is the geniuses, men with enorm-
/ Gus self-conceit and egotism, and nothing
else. l had rather be an OK than an
eagle; plain and plodding and useful,
rather than highfying and good for moth.
ing but to pick out the eyes of carcasses.
/ Extraordinary capacity without use is ex-
( traordinary failure. There is no hope for
| that person who begins life resolved to
] live by his wits, for the probability is he
/ has not any. 1t was not safe for Adam,
even in his unfalen state, to have moth
ing to do, and therefore God commanded
him to be farmer and horticulturist. He
was to dress the garden and keep it, and
had he and his wife obeyed the divine in
! junct and been at work, they
would not have been sauntering under
the trees and hungering after that fruit
which destroyed them and their posterity;
/ proof positive for all ages to come that
| those who do not attend to their business
are sure to get into mischief. l do not
know that the prodigal in the Scripture
would ever have been reclaimed had he
not given up his idle habits and gone to
| feeding swine for living:
! Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her
ways and be wise, which having no overseer or
| guide provideth her food in the summer and
! gathereth her meat in the harvest.